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Pre Mortem

A forward-looking format that imagines failure before it happens. The team pretends the project has already failed and asks why — what went wrong, what wasn't done, which problems remain and what other concerns linger. Surfacing risks at the start makes them far easier to prevent than to fix after the fact.
(Hypothetical) The project was a failure! What went wrong?
What didn’t we do?
What current problems remain?
Any other concerns?
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What is the Pre-Mortem retrospective?

A Pre-Mortem runs before the work begins, not after. The team imagines it's the end of the project and it has failed, then works backward to explain why. This "prospective hindsight" makes people far more honest about risks than a normal planning meeting, surfacing dangers while there's still time to prevent them.

  • What could go wrong? — risks and failure modes
  • What didn't we do? — gaps and missing steps
  • What problems remain? — unresolved threats
  • Other concerns? — anything else on people's minds

What could go wrong?

The team brainstorms every plausible way the project could fail: technical risks, dependencies, unrealistic timelines. Naming threats out loud early is what makes them manageable.

What didn't we do?

Here people spot gaps in the current plan — steps skipped, preparation missing, stakeholders not aligned. Catching these now is far cheaper than catching them later.

What problems remain?

This column captures known issues that still aren't resolved: open questions, unclear ownership, unmitigated risks that could quietly grow into failures.

Other concerns?

A space for everything else — gut feelings, soft worries and edge cases that don't fit neatly elsewhere but deserve to be on the table before work starts.

Benefits of the Pre-Mortem retrospective

  • Surfaces risks before they cause real damage
  • Makes it safe to voice doubts about the plan
  • Turns vague worries into concrete mitigations
  • Improves planning and realistic estimates
  • Builds shared ownership of project risks
  • Cheaper than fixing problems after they hit

How to run a Pre-Mortem retrospective

  1. Create a board in QRetro from the Pre-Mortem template.
  2. Set the scene: imagine the project has already failed.
  3. Have everyone add cards across all four columns silently.
  4. Group related risks and discuss the most serious ones.
  5. Prioritise the risks that most threaten success.
  6. Assign preventive actions and owners for the top risks.
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